Madam, - A report in your edition of November 7th points out that more pistol licences are granted outside major population centres than inside them. This is not surprising. Pistol licences are more numerous outside cities because there are no firing ranges in the cities and you need access to a range to get a licence. Target shooters have been highlighting this fact for years.
Your report adds that Fine Gael TD John Deasy was "concerned at the number of handguns now in circulation at a time when gun crime and the murder rate was climbing". It might be worth pointing out that there is no record of legally held handguns being used in crime since their reintroduction several years ago. In fact, since a ban on handguns was introduced in the UK gun crime has increased by over 500 per cent.
Mr Deasy says: "We shouldn't be liberalising procedures around gun licences when the murder rate is climbing. That just doesn't add up. I lived in the United States and know the damage they have caused there." In the US the it is possible to license a firearm for self-defence. That is not the case here. In Ireland handgun licenses are only issued for target use on approved ranges. There has not been a single murder case in which a legally held handgun was used.
If we want to compare firearms laws and gun crime rates with those in other countries, why not look at Norway and Switzerland? Both have more firearms than people and both have lower gun crime rates than Ireland. I am not suggesting that their lower crime rates are due to their higher number of firearms; I am saying that there is no connection between the two.
Your report says that "the total number of firearms licences issued, for all gun types, reached 233,934 in the 12-month period to July 31st last. This figure has grown steadily from 215,856 in 2004." These figures are distorted because legally our definition of a firearm is different to that in most countries. We license low-powered air guns that do not require a licence in the rest of Europe or in the US. Even so, we have fewer firearms per head than most countries in Europe. - Yours, etc,